LOST P4P on Litchi Waypoint mission - Trying to locate downed bird. . .

[Alaska Aerials]

Rookie litchi dumb dumb lost my drone shortly after launching yesterday.

I was in my driveway when I launched Litchi waypoint mission (where I fly all the time) and was taken by surprise when I lost signal moments after it started its mission. The first thing I tried was to pause the mission by pushing pause on my screen), then I switched to ATTI and then GPS mode while full throttling up, to avoid the trees. I figured the drone would be hovering in place when I got there, but it wasn't so I quickly drove the path of my mission watching my controller status light, but it never came back on. I waited at the last waypoint of the mission before returning home then to the last known location of the bird. I searched the ground but couldn't see anything, and had a hard time seeing into the trees; there are a lot of em and they're very snowy.

My theory was that the drone must have crashed soon after i lost contact with RC, otherwise I would have regained connection while mimicking the waypoint route, or while waiting at the end of the route. The only thing that makes sense is that I lost all contact because the bird crashed and lost power when the battery came out...

Trying to decipher log info, looks to me like drone crashed into tall tree at its last known location? Any suggestions, opinions welcome. . .
Guess I'll return to the last know location and look some more. Feel like an idiot as I know Litchi waypoint missions can be risky without ample planning. Guess I'll take it as another expensive flying lesson.

Link to my flight log:
Airdata UAV - Flight Data Analysis for Drones

Cheers and thanks for any help.
Luke

 

[Fly Dawg]

Your Airdata file is not sharable. Upload the log file to this link and place a link back here to your file.
We need the csv file to start with.

DJI Flight Log Viewer

 

[Fly Dawg]

Also share a link to your Litchi mission, if planned on the hub.

 

[Alaska Aerials]

OKAY, think I figured this out. Thanks in advance for your help. . .



DJI Flight Log Viewer - PhantomHelp.com

Download Flight Log

 

[Alaska Aerials]

and my waypoint mission:

Mission Hub - Litchi

 

[Fly Dawg]

Might take a while to complile the data, and others may chime in as well. We will sure look for you though. BTW, I noticed you are near Portage Glacier. Been there once.

 

[Alaska Aerials]

Yeah man, in Girdwood. Awesome place to fly!

Thanks again for any assistance. Imma go look around last know coordinates again.

Cheers!

 

[Fly Dawg]

Ok, going through all of this data, I don't see anything out of the ordinary. The last data point is where you lost signal, but bear in mind that it is only loss of signal. There is nothing in the data to indicate an impact of any sort, such as hitting a tree, etc....So, the bottom line is, yes you can search the area of the last signal, but that does not mean that the mission did not continue on. I would go as far as Waypoint 2, as that is the lowest point in the flight profile. Here is the last data point as a start.

 

[Wahoo_Ace]

Rookie litchi dumb dumb lost my drone shortly after launching yesterday.

I was in my driveway when I launched Litchi waypoint mission (where I fly all the time) and was taken by surprise when I lost signal moments after it started its mission. The first thing I tried was to pause the mission by pushing pause on my screen), then I switched to ATTI and then GPS mode while full throttling up, to avoid the trees. I figured the drone would be hovering in place when I got there, but it wasn't so I quickly drove the path of my mission watching my controller status light, but it never came back on. I waited at the last waypoint of the mission before returning home then to the last known location of the bird. I searched the ground but couldn't see anything, and had a hard time seeing into the trees; there are a lot of em and they're very snowy.

My theory was that the drone must have crashed soon after i lost contact with RC, otherwise I would have regained connection while mimicking the waypoint route, or while waiting at the end of the route. The only thing that makes sense is that I lost all contact because the bird crashed and lost power when the battery came out...

Trying to decipher log info, looks to me like drone crashed into tall tree at its last known location? Any suggestions, opinions welcome. . .
Guess I'll return to the last know location and look some more. Feel like an idiot as I know Litchi waypoint missions can be risky without ample planning. Guess I'll take it as another expensive flying lesson.

Link to my flight log:
Airdata UAV - Flight Data Analysis for Drones

Cheers and thanks for any help.
Luke

The people here are awesome at helping. I just joined for an exact situation like this. I had my hunches but guys were able to help me out! If you lost signal, when you were switching functions it may not have done anything to the drone-meaning it may have continued on it's path. It sounds crazy but when you look in your settings on Litchi and select, find my aircraft, where does it say it is? It should show the last known connection. May or may not be useful but could give you a place to start. How high are the trees in your area? Are all of your waypoints above them? This was the issue I ran into and ultimately where I found my drone. Don't give up!!

 

[With The Birds]

Wildly flicking switches and pushing buttons on signal loss in a litchi mission is probably a poor course of action. Imagine if your switch out of the mission and into ATTI mode reached the AC- it could have just drifted with the breeze until signal loss and auto landed on critical low battery.

You would have been better leaving the mission to complete.

 

[Wahoo_Ace]

Wildly flicking switches and pushing buttons on signal loss in a litchi mission is probably a poor course of action. Imagine if your switch out of the mission and into ATTI mode reached the AC- it could have just drifted with the breeze until signal loss and auto landed on critical low battery.

You would have been better leaving the mission to complete.

That is true. It is so hard as a rookie to just lose connection and patiently wait for it to complete!

 

[With The Birds]

That is true. It is so hard as a rookie to just lose connection and patiently wait for it to complete!

I think we have all been there. The trick is to learn how to fly confidently in GO and understand how the AC performs (including RTH) before getting too interested in litchi and other third party apps.

 

[Fly Dawg]

Wildly flicking switches and pushing buttons on signal loss in a litchi mission is probably a poor course of action

Just thought I'd throw this out there. Here are the mode switches. The last one only 10 seconds before signal loss.

 

[Wahoo_Ace]

Just thought I'd throw this out there. Here are the mode switches. The last one only 10 seconds before signal loss.

View attachment 95251

So based on this, does it appear the craft was back on the waypoint mission and would have completed the mission? A question that I have is, with no other input at the end of a mission (if not RTH) will the craft just hover until battery dies?

 

[Meta4]

then I switched to ATTI and then GPS mode while full throttling up, to avoid the trees. I figured the drone would be hovering in place when I got there, but it wasn't so I quickly drove the path of my mission watching my controller status light, but it never came back on. I waited at the last waypoint of the mission before returning home then to the last known location of the bird.

Flicking into atti mode cancels the waypoint mission (if you have signal) and the Phantom will wait for you to give it some control input, either by using the joysticks or initiating RTH.
If you have lost signal, the controller has no effect and the mission continues.

 

[BigAl07]

So based on this, does it appear the craft was back on the waypoint mission and would have completed the mission? A question that I have is, with no other input at the end of a mission (if not RTH) will the craft just hover until battery dies?

It will Auto Land at battery critically low point in order to try and preserve the aircraft and avoid a power-OFF landing (not a landing at all).

 

[Fly Dawg]

So based on this, does it appear the craft was back on the waypoint mission and would have completed the mission?

If you look at the last graph at the bottom, it was indeed back on the Waypoint mission. But as was said before, there is nothing in this data that indicates any kind of mishap other than loss of signal. Assuming the mission proceeded, as it should have, it could be anyplace along the flightpath, unless the altitude was too low ( and that is suspect) and it clipped the trees, which can be quite tall in that area. I have no idea why the OP had the flight speed at maximum throughout the mission profile ( 30mph +)

 

[Alaska Aerials]

Thanks for all the input/analysis, fellas. I walked the first three waypoints yesterday, paying especially close attention to the trees around points one and two, but unfortunately no joy.

I was flying a new version of a flight I've done many times, but I rushed when creating the mission and didn't take enough care in calculating elevations (specifically for the first two WPs). All of the biggest lessons I've learned flying have come from crashes, unfortunately. So I'll put "hastily creating and launching Litchi waypoint mission" in my 'don't do this' column. I'm heading to town to replace the drone before the wife notices its gone (for NOT the first time). . .

Thanks again for your assistance. I haven't given up on finding the bird, but at this point I'm not very confident in achieving any result. Perhaps some recon from the air will do the trick for me. And hopefully this will be the last time I enlist your expertise for such a dilemma.

Cheers,

 

[Fly Dawg]

I haven't given up on finding the bird, but at this point I'm not very confident in achieving any result.

It would be a daunting task I would think. It could be anyplace along the flight path, assuming it cleared the obstacles. If by some chance it made it to the final waypoint, ( Which I would doubt, but it is possible) you will find it in the water, since you had your settings to no final action, that would mean it sat there waiting for you until the battery went kaput and then auto landed right there. For future reference and just what I call a rule of thumb, when you plan your missions, always put your first ( or last ) waypoint close to you. Preferably the last, but either will work and always have it return to that point. Good luck with the wife. I know what mine would say......

 

[Wahoo_Ace]

Thanks for all the input/analysis, fellas. I walked the first three waypoints yesterday, paying especially close attention to the trees around points one and two, but unfortunately no joy.

I was flying a new version of a flight I've done many times, but I rushed when creating the mission and didn't take enough care in calculating elevations (specifically for the first two WPs). All of the biggest lessons I've learned flying have come from crashes, unfortunately. So I'll put "hastily creating and launching Litchi waypoint mission" in my 'don't do this' column. I'm heading to town to replace the drone before the wife notices its gone (for NOT the first time). . .

Thanks again for your assistance. I haven't given up on finding the bird, but at this point I'm not very confident in achieving any result. Perhaps some recon from the air will do the trick for me. And hopefully this will be the last time I enlist your expertise for such a dilemma.

Cheers,

I'm right there with you! I hastily set up 2 final waypoints "hastily" and turned out to be the demise of my craft. We have to remember that these are not $100 toys from Amazon and when we fly we have to make sure we are taking it seriously and going through preflight checks including our software. I can tell you that if there is snow on the ground, it will be nearly impossible to find the craft. I was literally walking 2 feet away and didn't find it. A recon mission from the air will probably work if there is no snow. Set your waypoints higher (to eliminate the possibility of hitting a tree), set your cruising speed to something like 3 mph (you can always speed up) and point your camera down. Here is what mine looked like from the air (look for an X shape)